I was trying to rosdep update on some custom packages. But then ended up adding source directly to the workspace.

1 - Can we use Stereo cameras which is integrated in the VOXL flight deck for performing the SLAM?
Yes! definitely possible. To consume the stereo frames, you'll need to disable VOA in voxl-vision-px4 if that is currently enabled. This repo should create a depth map and publish to ROS: https://github.com/ATLFlight/dfs-ros-example

2-IsTOF sensor a better choice for performing SLAM. And if yes, do we need to replace the stereo cameras with the TOF?
that depends. TOF works better indoors, and stereo works better outdoors. An upcoming software release, potentially 3.1, will support stereo and TOF concurrently. One of the other image sensors will need to be removed though for support, like the 4k high-res.

3- What is the difference between SLAM performed by Stereo camera and SLAM performed by TOF sensor?
Stereo works better outdoors, TOF works better indoors.

Hi @modaltb ,
Thank you for that insight.

That was indeed our intended use case, given the size of our vehicle, but as we have experienced, image quality does indeed degrade (looking at rqt-image-view) using that many extension cables.

We are currently investigating placement options to see if we can fit the VOXL and sensors such that we can avoid the extensions.

We have also learned about the existence of extension interfaces for MIPI CSI-2 (THine for example provides such a solution). Do you or your team have experience with these solutions?

Hi @abdullah-sorathi ,

The only items 'lost' would be the stereo and tracking camera calibration, which is actually not stored right now by default to /data (it will in the future)...

We have two approaches:

calibrate following this: https://docs.modalai.com/calibrate-cameras/ or, provide me the serial number (on a small barcode, starts with "M2", near the front/top of the Flight Deck close to the camera backs). I can pull the info from our database and we can update the files on the device.

Side notes:

voxl-backup can be used to save/restore to/from /data if needed in the future

Hi @SHAURYA-PANTHRI ,

We don't have a model for Gazebo, but the frame is essentially a Holybro s500, and there may be some out there.

I've used JMAVSim a bit and it works well. We have a HIL tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uoIxAkiYtk

That might be a little overkill and software in the loop might work: https://dev.px4.io/v1.11/en/simulation/#sitl-simulation-environment

I'm actually pretty new to flying still. The m500 at first was intimidating for me (I'd come into the office early before everyone else so I could fly without any pressure haha ;). I bought a little toy $25 USD drone off amazon and flew that at home for a while, and then moving to the m500 was actually pretty easy!

Hi @gauravshukla914 ,

Thanks for the help with this. We've released a new beta version of the voxl-hal3-tof-cam-ros that supports auto detection of ToF and defaults the persist.camera.modalai.tof setting properly.

It will be in out next voxl-suite release, but is available from our dev channel here if you are interested in using this link

The updated readme is here.

Thanks!

Thanks Chad. I was being a dunderhead. I will using the SSID and password for the drone, not my local network. Just got it working.

Resetting the parameters to outdoor mode seemed to have worked! The GPS acquired a signal and I am able to fly in Mission mode. Thank you!

Hi @Daniel-Gauthier ,

Partial answers here but hopefully can git things moving. Also, I'm making assumptions here that you are OK "opening up the hood" and modifying code 😉

Consider voxl-imu-serverand the two IMUs on VOXL as not accessible via PX4/QGC. Let me reach out to a colleague who's more in this area and I'll get back to you.

We have some tools in the works for logging VOXL IMUs (and other) data easily on the VOXL side. I'll need to touch base on timeline, we are looking for a mid-end Feb release but have a developer channel that you could use if you're OK with pre-release SW (e.g. not ready for prime time...).

OK for the PX4 side I'm more versed on. The 42688p driver is here:

At least in v1.10 and v1.11, PX4 uses a single IMU as input to EKF2.
Whatever has the highest priority and is functional.... A little silly, but the two extra IMUs on there are from the v5x design spec which we were asked to try to implement, but are used as 'backups' basically.. and thus far I don't believe the backups have been used.... So it's really based on a sensor priority (which ICM42688 and ICM20648 share the same) and what sensor is started first (right now, 20602).

--> https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/blob/master/boards/modalai/fc-v1/init/rc.board_sensors#L13

You can change the order here/comment out sensors, and it will change the default IMU being used. For validation testing, I commented out the 20602 line.

So, to make the 42688p default, make it startup first in that script.

Here's the 42688p driver for PX4:
--> https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/tree/master/src/drivers/imu/invensense/icm42688p

Here's the 42688p driver for VOXL:
-> https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/modal-pipe-architecture/voxl-imu-server/-/blob/master/server/src/icm42688.c

Keep questions coming and we'll get to them!

Thank you so much for this. This was of great help @Chad-Sweet

I am not sure I usually can read the contents from the sd-card it is just weird to me that i cannot enter any command on the shell when the sd_card is on

Yes you can use vi on VOXL

@mr-TOKI ,

Are you taking off and trying to fly first to 0.3m?

Takeoff is a somewhat of a “jerky” maneuver. You can imagine that the flight controller will begin respond quickly, but there are still some factors that could make a takeoff “vary” and thus not have an immediate perfect response.

Takeoff and then a halt at 30cm is pretty aggressive.

I think you'll need to reflash the system image. From your previous posts it sounded like ADB goes away consistently after a few minutes. If you can't get to ADB after reboot, then it sounds like it's bricked. See here: https://docs.modalai.com/unbrick-voxl/